JP6800520B2 - Cutting equipment - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a cutting device, and more particularly to a cutting device capable of preventing the optical sensor from becoming dirty while suppressing the supply of cleaning water to the optical sensor of the non-contact setup mechanism.

Various electronic components such as semiconductor wafers, ceramics, and glass that require precision cutting are divided into individual chips by a cutting device called a dicing saw. Machining of these electronic components requires precision cutting on the order of microns, which requires not only the size of the chip but also the depth of cut.

For example, a semiconductor wafer is fixed to a dicing tape, and a cutting blade is cut into the dicing tape by about 10 to 30 μm to completely cut the semiconductor wafer. However, if the cutting amount into the dicing tape is insufficient, the wafer is incompletely cut. Therefore, the lower cut piece becomes jagged as if it were chipped.

Further, the cutting blade used for cutting has a property of being worn as the cutting process is continued, and it is necessary to correct the fluctuation of the cutting depth due to the wear of the cutting blade at any time.

Such fluctuations in the cutting blade edge position are detected at any time by a non-contact setup mechanism using an optical sensor, and the height position of the cutting blade is corrected (origin position correction) based on the detection result (for example). , JP-A-11-214334). With this technique, the height position of the cutting blade can be easily detected without damaging the cutting blade without cutting the chuck table for holding the workpiece or the workpiece.

It is important to detect the cutting edge position (tip position) of the cutting blade by the optical sensor in order to keep the optical sensor including the light emitting part and the light receiving part clean in order to avoid erroneous recognition of the optical sensor. However, since the optical sensor is located in the atmosphere of the processing room, there is a problem that cutting chips in the atmosphere tend to adhere to the optical sensor and induce erroneous recognition.

Therefore, a method of supplying cleaning water to the optical sensor except during the detection operation of the tip position of the cutting blade has been devised, but there is a problem that a large amount of cleaning water is consumed. In order to avoid this problem, a method of accommodating the optical sensor with an opening / closing lid to prevent the optical sensor from being exposed to the atmosphere of the processing room has been proposed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-21354.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 11-214334 Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2003-21354

However, in the mechanism disclosed in Patent Document 2, when a large amount of cutting chips are contained in the atmosphere of the processing chamber, even a slight gap in the opening / closing lid may cause the optical sensor to become dirty, which may cause erroneous detection. It was left behind.

The present invention has been made in view of these points, and an object of the present invention is cutting provided with a non-contact setup mechanism capable of preventing dirt from adhering to an optical sensor while suppressing the amount of washing water used. To provide the device.

According to the present invention, a chuck table for holding a work piece, a cutting unit for cutting a work piece held on the chuck table with a cutting blade, a detection means for detecting the tip position of the cutting blade, and at least the said. A cutting device including a chuck table, a cutting unit, and a control means for controlling the detection means, and the detection means is arranged on one side of a U-shaped blade intrusion portion and the blade intrusion portion. Cleaning water is supplied to the light emitting portion, the light receiving portion arranged on the other side of the blade invading portion that receives the light from the light emitting portion, the light emitting portion, and the end faces of the light receiving portion, and the end faces thereof. a cleaning water nozzle to prevent adhesion of cutting chips, wherein the opening and closing lid capable of preventing that the light emitting portion and a light receiving portion to the atmosphere of the processing chamber of the cutting device is exposed, the control means, the During the detection operation of detecting the tip position of the cutting blade during cutting of the workpiece, the supply of cleaning water from the cleaning water supply nozzle is stopped with the opening / closing lid open , and during the detection operation. Other than the above, a cutting device is provided in which the opening / closing lid is closed, and cleaning water is intermittently supplied to the end face to remove cutting chips adhering to the end face.

Preferably, the detecting means further includes an air supply nozzle that supplies air to the light emitting portion and the end face of the light receiving portion, and the control means intermittently supplies air from the air supply nozzle to the end face during the standby. supplied, and to remove the cutting chips adhering to the end face in the cleaning water and air. Further, preferably, the control means intermittently supplies the cleaning water from the cleaning water supply nozzle and the air from the air supply nozzle during the standby, and then the cleaning water from the cleaning water supply nozzle. Only supply. Further, preferably, the control means simultaneously supplies the cleaning water from the cleaning water supply nozzle and the air from the air supply nozzle at the time of the standby, so that the two fluids in which the cleaning water and the air are mixed are supplied. Is sprayed onto the end face.

According to the cutting apparatus of the present invention, by intermittently supplying cleaning water to the optical sensor of the non-contact setup mechanism, it is possible to prevent the adhesion of dirt to the optical sensor while suppressing the amount of cleaning water used.

It is a perspective view of the cutting apparatus provided with the non-contact setup mechanism of this invention. It is a cross-sectional view of the processing chamber casing in the state where the chuck table is moved to the cutting processing position. It is a vertical sectional view of the processing chamber casing. It is a block diagram of a non-contact setup mechanism. It is a graph which shows the change of the output voltage of the non-contact setup mechanism according to the position in the cutting direction of a cutting blade. It is a perspective view of the non-contact setup mechanism. It is a side view of the non-contact setup mechanism. It is explanatory drawing explaining the transition of the cleaning water supply method.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. With reference to FIG. 1, a perspective view of the cutting device 2 provided with the non-contact setup mechanism (blade end detection mechanism) according to the embodiment of the present invention is shown.

Reference numeral 4 denotes a base of a cutting device 2, and a chuck table 6 is arranged on the base 4 so as to be rotatable and reciprocating in the X-axis direction by a machining feed means (not shown). A water cover 8 is arranged around the chuck table 6, and a bellows 10 for protecting the shaft portion of the processing feed mechanism is connected to the water cover 8 and the base 4.

A gate-shaped column 12 is erected behind the base 4. A pair of guide rails 14 extending in the Y-axis direction are fixed to the column 12. The Y-axis moving block 16 is mounted on the column 12 so as to be movable in the Y-axis direction along the guide rail 14 by a Y-axis moving mechanism (indexing feed mechanism) 20 including a ball screw 18 and a pulse motor (not shown). ..

A pair of guide rails 22 extending in the Z-axis direction are fixed to the Y-axis moving block 16. The Z-axis moving block 24 is mounted on the Y-axis moving block 16 so as to be movable in the Z-axis direction by being guided by a guide rail 22 by a Z-axis moving mechanism 30 including a ball screw 26 and a pulse motor 28.

A cutting unit 32 is attached to the Z-axis moving block 24, the spindle 36 shown in FIG. 4 is rotatably housed in the spindle housing 34 of the cutting unit 32, and a cutting blade 38 is located at the tip of the spindle 36. It is detachably attached. An imaging unit 40 having a microscope and a camera is further attached to the Z-axis moving block 24.

Reference numeral 42 denotes a processing chamber casing that defines the processing chamber 44, and is made of a transparent resin such as polycarbonate. The processing chamber casing 42 accommodates the chuck table 6 and the cutting blade 38. An exhaust port 50 is formed in the processing chamber casing 42.

Reference numeral 46 denotes a non-contact setup mechanism (blade end detection mechanism) according to the embodiment of the present invention, the details of which are shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. By pulling the handle 48, the door 49 of the processing chamber casing 42 can be opened, and the workpiece can be carried in on the chuck table 6 and the workpiece can be carried out from the chuck table 6.

With reference to FIG. 2, a cross-sectional view of the processing chamber casing 42 in a state where the chuck table 6 is moved to the cutting processing position is shown. FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional view of the machining chamber casing 42, in which cutting water is supplied from the cutting water nozzle 54 toward the blade tip during cutting of the workpiece held on the chuck table 6, and the cooling water nozzle 52 The work piece is cut while supplying cooling water from the cutting blade 38 toward the machining point.

Therefore, the mist 56 of the processing waste, the cutting water, and the cooling water is scattered in the atmosphere of the processing chamber 44, and the non-contact setup mechanism 46 is exposed to such an atmosphere.

Next, the non-contact setup mechanism (blade end detection mechanism) 46 according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 4 to 6. As shown in FIG. 6, a columnar bracket 60 projects from the base 4, and a mounting member 62 of the non-contact setup mechanism 46 is fixed to the bracket 60. The mounting member 62 has a horizontal portion 62a, a vertical portion 62b that defines the U-shaped blade intrusion portion 63, and an inclined portion 62c.

An optical sensor 65 including a light emitting unit 64 and a light receiving unit 66 that receives light from the light emitting unit 64 is arranged with the blade intruding unit 63 interposed therebetween (see FIG. 7). As shown in FIG. 4, the light emitting unit 64 is connected to the light source 84 via the optical fiber 83, and the light receiving unit 66 is connected to the photoelectric conversion unit 86 via the optical fiber 85.

The inclined portion 62c of the mounting member 62 is provided with a cleaning water supply nozzle 68 that supplies cleaning water adjusted to a constant temperature to the end faces of the light emitting portion 64 and the light receiving portion 66, and air is supplied to the end faces of the light emitting portion 64 and the light receiving portion 66. An air supply nozzle 70 is arranged.

As shown in FIG. 4, the wash water supply nozzle 68 is selectively connected to the wash water supply source 78 via the electromagnetic switching valve 76, and the air supply nozzle 70 is selected to the air supply source 82 via the electromagnetic switching valve 80. Is connected.

When setting up the cutting blade 38 using the non-contact setup mechanism 46, the pulse motor 28 of the Z-axis feed mechanism 30 is driven to move the tip (blade edge) of the cutting blade 38 to the blade intrusion portion 63 of the non-contact setup mechanism 46. Invade from above.

At this time, when the cutting blade 38 does not block between the light emitting unit 64 and the light receiving unit 66 of the optical sensor 65 at all, the amount of light received by the light receiving unit 66 is the maximum, and the photoelectric conversion unit corresponding to this amount of light is received. The output from 86 is set to 5V, for example, as shown in FIG.

As the cutting blade 38 enters the blade intruding portion 63, the amount of the cutting blade 38 blocking the light beam emitted from the light emitting portion 64 gradually increases, so that the amount of light received by the light receiving portion 66 gradually decreases. , The output voltage from the photoelectric conversion unit 86 gradually decreases as shown by reference numeral 87 in FIG.

Then, when the cutting blade 38 reaches the predetermined positions of the light emitting unit 64 and the light receiving unit 66, the output voltage from the photoelectric conversion unit 86 is set to be, for example, 3V, which is a reference voltage. Therefore, when the output voltage of the photoelectric conversion unit 86 becomes 3V, the voltage comparison unit 90 outputs a signal to the end position detection unit 92 that the output voltage of the photoelectric conversion unit 86 has reached the reference voltage.

The end position detection unit 92 transmits a signal to the effect that the reference position has been detected to the pulse motor 28, and stops driving the pulse motor 28. At this time, the end position detection unit 92 detects the position of the cutting blade 38 in the cutting direction (Z-axis direction) by counting the number of pulses of the pulse motor 28 of the Z-axis feed mechanism 30. The reference position, which is the position of the lowest point end of the cutting blade 38, is stored in the memory of the cutting device 2.

According to the non-contact setup method of the present embodiment, after the workpiece is appropriately cut by the cutting blade 38, the lowest point end detection step is executed to execute the lowest point end detection step, and the lowermost portion of the cutting blade 38 previously indexed and stored is executed. The wear amount calculation step of calculating the wear amount (wear amount) of the cutting blade 38 by the calculation unit 94 is executed in comparison with the position of the point end portion.

Then, based on the wear amount of the cutting blade 38 calculated from the wear amount calculation step, the position correction unit 96 corrects the origin position of the cutting blade 38 in the Z-axis direction. By correcting the origin position, the cutting edge of the cutting blade 38 can be set to the origin position in contact with the upper surface of the frame of the chuck table 6.

As mentioned above, the non-contact setup mechanism 46 is constantly exposed to the atmosphere of the processing chamber 44. Therefore, the end faces of the light emitting portion 64 and the light receiving portion 66 of the optical sensor 65 are contaminated by mist, cutting chips, and the like contained in the atmosphere.

In order to prevent this contamination, in the embodiment of the present invention, the cleaning water is supplied from the cleaning water supply nozzle 68 to the end face of the light emitting unit 64 and the end surface of the light receiving unit 66 except during the detection operation of detecting the tip position of the cutting blade 38. It is intermittently supplied, and more preferably, cleaning water and air are intermittently supplied from the washing water supply nozzle 68 and the air supply nozzle 70 to the end face of the light emitting unit 64 and the end face of the light receiving unit 66, and the light emitting unit 64 and the light receiving unit 64 are supplied intermittently. Removes dirt adhering to the end face of 66.

Hereinafter, this end face cleaning method will be described in detail with reference to FIG. Reference numeral A in FIG. 8 indicates that the cutting edge of the cutting blade 38 is being detected. At this time, the supply of cleaning water from the cleaning water supply nozzle 68 and the supply of air from the air supply nozzle 70 are stopped.

Needless to say, when the blade end position is detected, the opening / closing lid 72 attached to the attachment member 62 is opened via the hinge 74 for detection. When the detection operation is completed, the opening / closing lid 72 is closed to prevent the light emitting unit 64 and the light receiving unit 66 from being exposed to the atmosphere of the processing chamber 44.

In FIG. 8, during cutting of the workpiece indicated by reference numeral B in which the detection of the cutting edge of the cutting blade 38 is completed, cleaning water and air are intermittently supplied toward the end faces of the light emitting unit 64 and the light receiving unit 66.

As shown in the second stage of FIG. 8, C indicated by the dotted line is the supply stop period, and D is the supply period. Therefore, during the cutting of the workpiece shown in B, the supply stop period C and the supply period D are alternately repeated. For example, after carrying out the supply stop period C every 1 to 5 seconds, the supply period D of about 0.1 to 2 seconds is carried out.

Further, as shown in the third stage of FIG. 8, in the supply period D, the simultaneous supply period E in which the cleaning water is supplied from the washing water supply nozzle 68 and the air is supplied from the air supply nozzle 70 at the same time. Later, a period for supplying only the washing water shown in F is provided, and the end face becomes dry during the supply stop period shown in C to prevent cutting chips from easily adhering to the end face.

Here, the air supply from the air supply nozzle 70 functions to remove the dirt attached to the end faces of the light emitting unit 64 and the light receiving unit 66 together with the cleaning water. Adjust the air flow rate so that the end face does not dry out.

The air may be mixed with the cleaning water to form two fluids so that the cleaning effect of the end face is enhanced. Therefore, the nozzles of the cleaning water supply nozzle 68 and the air supply nozzle 70 may be brought close to each other and mixed after the nozzles are ejected. It may be integrated and mixed with washing water and air inside before ejecting.

According to the above-described embodiment, by intermittently supplying cleaning water and air to the end faces of the light emitting unit 64 and the light receiving unit 66 of the non-contact setup mechanism 46, the amount of cleaning water used is suppressed and the optical sensor 65 is contaminated. Can be prevented from adhering.

In addition to this embodiment, in the supply period D, only water may be supplied to prevent the adhesion of dirt and prevent drying. Further, immediately before the blade end position detection, air may be supplied from the air supply nozzle 70 to remove the cleaning water adhering to the end face.

2 Cutting device 6 Chuck table 32 Cutting unit 38 Cutting blade 42 Machining chamber casing 44 Machining chamber 46 Non-contact setup mechanism (blade end detection mechanism)
62 Mounting member 63 Blade intrusion part 64 Light emitting part 65 Optical sensor 66 Light receiving part 68 Washing water supply nozzle 70 Air supply nozzle 84 Light source 86 Photoelectric conversion unit 88 Reference voltage setting unit 90 Voltage comparison unit 92 End position detection unit

Claims (4)

A chuck table that holds a work piece, a cutting unit that cuts a work piece held on the chuck table with a cutting blade, a detection means that detects the tip position of the cutting blade, and at least the chuck table and the cutting. A cutting device including a unit and a control means for controlling the detection means.
The detection means
A U-shaped blade invading portion, a light emitting portion arranged on one side of the blade invading portion, and a light receiving portion arranged on the other side of the blade intruding portion that receives light from the light emitting portion. The light emitting portion and the light receiving portion are exposed to the cleaning water nozzle that supplies cleaning water to the light emitting portion and the end face of the light receiving portion to prevent the adhesion of cutting chips to the end face, and the atmosphere of the processing chamber of the cutting device. Includes an open / close lid that can prevent
The control means is used during cutting of the workpiece.
During the detection operation for detecting the tip position of the cutting blade, the supply of cleaning water from the cleaning water supply nozzle is stopped with the opening / closing lid open , and the opening / closing is performed during standby other than the detection operation. A cutting apparatus characterized in that washing water is intermittently supplied to the end face with the lid closed to remove cutting chips adhering to the end face. The detection means further includes an air supply nozzle that supplies air to the light emitting portion and the end face of the light receiving portion.
The first aspect of the present invention, wherein the control means intermittently supplies air from the air supply nozzle to the end face during the standby, and removes cutting chips adhering to the end face with cleaning water and air. Cutting equipment. The control means intermittently supplies the cleaning water from the cleaning water supply nozzle and the air from the air supply nozzle during the standby, and then supplies only the cleaning water from the cleaning water supply nozzle. 2. The cutting apparatus according to claim 2. The control means simultaneously supplies the cleaning water from the cleaning water supply nozzle and the air from the air supply nozzle at the time of the standby, thereby injecting two fluids in which the cleaning water and the air are mixed into the end face. The cutting apparatus according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the cutting apparatus is to be used.